Bio / Resume

Biography

Jodi Jackson grew up in Los Angeles and was exposed to the entertainment industry at a very early age. She caught the entertainment bug at the age 13, working as a page on the Jerry Lewis Muscular Dystrophy Telethon. She was then recruited to work the Cerebral Palsy Telethon with Paul Anka.

After high school, Jodi moved closer to her father, attending The Academy of Arts College in San Francisco, and graduating with a Fine Arts Degree in Interior Design. During her college years, Jodi worked for Bill Graham Presents and was fortunate enough to have seen all the raging 80’s bands at the Bill Graham venues. Upon graduation Jodi worked in Interior Design for commercial design firms.

After a few years, she realized that she wanted to have her designs appear on film. Moving back to Los Angeles, she pursued a career as a production designer/set decorator. Jodi landed four projects right out the gate. One of them being the music video Natural Born Killers, with Snoop Dogg, Ice Cube and Dr. Dre. Trying her hand in all different aspects of production at the SIR Theater in Hollywood, Jodi was able to oversee special events, music rehearsals, television show productions, music equipment rental, production equipment rentals, and night club venues.

She also worked on 4 consecutive Grammy Awards show in the talent department. Jodi was hired by Billboard Live to manage their Special Events, and coordinate their grand opening party. This involved closing down Sunset Blvd for the first time since President John F. Kennedy’s motorcade drove down this famous street. During the event, Tony Bennett and the Gin Blossoms played inside while Jenny McCarthy hosted an out door stage with an audience of 2000 fans.

After being exposed to all aspects of the music business, Jodi Jackson decided that her talents would be best used at a record label. She started working for music attorney Peter Lopez and his record label partner Glenn Frey at Mission Records. The VP, Linda Whitewolf, was a native American Indian and very active in Native American struggles.

During her time, Jackson helped to trouble shoot many Native American causes. Through NAMA, The Native American Music Awards, Jackson championed the cause for having a Native American category for the Grammy’s. In 2001 the battle was won, and two Native American Categories were now up for voting by NARAS members. While working for Glenn Frey, Jodi helped to coordinate many Eagles events hosted by Irving Azoff. She was also in charge of managing the Eagles catalog, with the help of MCA records.

Jodi briefly assisted the radio promotions department at Priority Records, and working as a publicist at Red Ant Entertainment on their thirteen artist’s roster, assisting in a variety of campaigns. With three record labels under her belt, Jackson decided it was time to focus on specific music genres. She went to work for The Courtney Barnes Group which specializes in Pop, Rap, Hip Hop, Urban, and R&B, giving her the exciting opportunity to work with names like, Brandy, Tyresse, Dream, Aliyah, Sarai, Sisqo to name a few.

One of her most memorable experiences was taking Badboy Recording artist, Dream to Michael Jackson’s 40th Birthday party at Neverland Ranch, with Dream set to perform for the guests. Working at The Courtney Barnes Group allowed Jodi to work as an independent publicist, enabling her to really understand all facets of the music media.

Heading up the Music Division as a Senior Accounts Manager at LCO, has allowed Jodi to take one more step on the ladder of success, and she is relished the chance to meet with new clients, create new business, and act as a liaison to music talent. Her intuition, focus and talent, allow her to consistently make bold innovative decisions which help to further her client’s careers. She is more than willing to provide counsel in matters of career choices and frequently is on hand to advise how publicity can effect the public’s perception of talent and how it can help selling lots of products. Her vast experience, coupled with her wish to identify and correct her client’s problems means she is an insightful and comforting voice in a very rejecting industry. Skills, knowledge, and the right contacts will make or break any publicity campaign, but Jodi is always up for the challenge.

Resumé

Jodi Jackson
523 North Orlando, #8
Los Angeles, CA 90048
Tel 323.653.5438

Fifteen years of varied and progressively responsible experience in the entertainment industry involving publicity, artist development and relations, production and production design for music, television and special events.Music Experience

As Director of Publicity and A&R for Mission Records, I created and then managed the publicity and press relations function for the label. I served as the label’s principal contact with the media and coordinated and supervised the label’s advertising agency regarding all publicity, creative materials and support activities. I also handled tour/appearance advancing and coordinated and produced special events for the label, as well as music publishing and licensing, and radio promotion.

Additionally, I handled the label’s A&R function, reviewing, documenting and responding to submissions, conducting performance reviews and serving as the label’s artist interface.

Among our many accomplishments, we secured extensive media coverage for Mission Records artist Max Carl, including magazine covers, print media feature stories, record and performance reviews in print and electronic media, television appearances and television feature stories in support of Max’s release "One Planet, One Groove" and the single "One More River." As a result, we succeeded in charting Max Carl at A3, A/C and Hot A/C and laid a strong framework for his future success.

In Radio Promotion at Priority Records, I assisted in Urban, Pop, Adult Contemporary genre’s with programming and music directors.

In Media Relations at Red Ant Entertainment, I coordinated and handled tour press and serviced all regional/national outlets for Red Ant’s thirteen artist roster.

As a publicist working at The Courtney Barnes Group, I assisted in many campaigns: LaToya London, Jasmine Trias, Taylor Dayne, George Huff, David Guest, Ray J, AJA, Dream, Brandy, Kim Fields, Impromp2, 3LW, Sarai, 112, Snoop Dogg, Sisqo, Sicily, UPN’s One On One, Next, Tank, Michael Speaks, for Epic, Arista, Bad Boy, Island/Def Jam, La Face, Peak/Concord Records and Big 3 Records.

I also worked as an independent publicist on Warner Music recording artist "YoungLyfe" imprint label, Paper Chase records.

As an Independent Booking Agent for such acts as: Max Carl, Ivan Neville, Kat Dyson, Screaming Divas, Louis Taylor, in Los Angeles and San Francisco Bay Area venues, covering their local tour markets. As well as working on Marro recording artists Frankee’s national publicity campaign for LCO, targeting all teen magazines in the New York City market.

Television & Film Experience

I have been involved with the production for a number of television and film projects, including work in production design, production coordination, and publicity, for television specials, premium cable movies and box office releases. A sampling of these projects includes:

• "Love & Basketball," The Courtney Barnes Group, New Line Records
• "80 Years My Way," Frank Sinatra Birthday Television Special, George Schlatter Productions
• "Here’s To The Ladies," Tony Bennett Television Special, Ken Ehrlich Productions
• "Planet Hollywood Comes Home," Television Special, Tall Pony Productions
• "Weekend," Premium Cable Film, Magic Hour Productions/Showtime
• "Natural Born Killers," Music Video, Geronimo Productions
• "The Crusaders," Television Show, Buena Vista Television/Disney

Special Events

Much of my experience involves creating and producing special events, including virtually all aspects of production and management.

• Special Events Manager, Billboard Live—produced our Grand Opening Party and events featuring Tony Bennett and the Gin Blossoms
• Pierre Cossette Productions—managed credentials for the 38th Annual Grammy Awards
• Mission Records—produced a number of special events and concerts for Mission artists Max Carl and Glenn Frey
• Duck Duck Mousse Catering—produced and managed a number of special events for Duck Duck Mousse and their contract facility, The Greek Theater
• SIR Theater—handled events coordination and production for a number of productions, including "La Banda Elastica," "Comic View," "Un Big Ball," and "Papa Wemba"
• Bill Graham Presents—Coordinated events services and supported concert production
• Galerie Lakaye—Managed publicity, sales and special events
• Native American Music Awards—production assistant to the co-director of the annual NAMA awards show and the NAMA Foundation EducationB.F.A., Interior Design, San Francisco Academy of Art College (minor in Theater)

Computer literate in both the Macintosh and Windows operating systems.

References:

Dolph Rempp, SIR Hollywood 323-957-5460
Courtney Barnes, The Courtney Barnes Group (CBG) Hollywood, courtney@cbgpr.com
Cindy Paul, Mission Records, Los Angeles, cpaulinc@aol.com
Carine Fabius, Galerie LaKaye, Hollywood, cfabius@mailblocks.com
Alfred Hopton, The Courtney Barnes Group, Hollywood, ahopton70@yahoo.com
Micheal Hall, The Courtney Barnes Group, Hollywood, mediamode@yahoo.com